Originally Posted By wahooskipper Blue skies for the Space Shuttle launch this morning. You can catch it on CNN.com or, if you are in certain parts of Florida...step outside in about 26 minutes.
Originally Posted By Mr X 3.2.1. BLASTOFF!!!! I've loved the shuttle program every since I was a little kid! ALL THE BEST to the last astronauts to board this spaceship, safe journeys and get back home safely and have a TON of fun along the way!!!!!!!!!!!
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Wind is blowing up there according to a friend who went up to watch it...but, all looks good so far with the countdown resuming.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo May this mission go well. I am sooo sad it is over. I remember seeing the firswt landing live at Edwards Airforce base in California, amazed at what I saw with my own eyes. The terror of the accidents over the years, Challenger being the one that affected me the most. Then seeing a night launch on my honeymoon in 2000, brought tears to my eyes. I am so sad this chapter is closing. a life long obsession, with little faith that the US will really be in the game anymore. ESA and Asia will hopefully pick off. I am still dedicated to us bodly going where no one has gone before.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Just saw it launch on CNN and then headed outside to see it. I'm about 215 miles away but I could see the smoke trail as it launched. I love it, but at the same time I just think it blows that there is only one launch left.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Oh, so this isn't the last one???!!! I thought it was. anyway, I will show Mikey when he gets home as a special birthday present.
Originally Posted By Mr X I thought this was the last one, too. Oh, well. I guess I woke up Little X for nothing. ;p
Originally Posted By disney pete Ive always been facinated by space travel and more so the shuttles still cant believe after the next one its over will be sad to see it end.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I am so sad this chapter is closing. a life long obsession, with little faith that the US will really be in the game anymore --- yep this administration has decided against continuing something we ( the US) is actually a world leader at-- God forbid that continues.... A lot of very high tech jobs going away also... I don't get it.... I hear people say- what a waste of money- but the dolts don't get that a lot of everyday items came directly from the space program - and shuttle program everything from invisible braces to scratch resistent lenses , memory foam, ear thermometers, much of the running shoe technology, smoke detectors, much of the long distance telephone technology, cordless tools, water filters, the chemical process to run dialysis machines, the technology for CAT scan machines, & MRI machines - overall 1400+ US patents came from the space program that we are now going to cripple. If there was a new program ready in the wings I could understand it, but of course there is nothing...and when you lose the braintrust of NASA..likely there will be nothing and yes Dave I am afraid it will be a new opportunity for Asia to further the decline of world leadership in anything here.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Circle of life I guess since much of the US space program came from German rocket scientists who fled Nazi occupied Germany..and brought their knowledge with them. Here they were able to channel it to what became the US Space program... .when Apollo was wound down in the early 1970s some 300,000 engineers, scientists, managers and office support staff lost their jobs, many never to return to aerospace. The loss of talent was incalculable, which hindered the space shuttle and space station programs once they started to ramp up.I guess we learned nothing from the past. The difference today is countries like India are very interested and seem to find the money for things they want--sop many of those newly unemployed 'rocket scientists' likely will find work elsewhere. Bush started this ball rolling after the 2003 accident..but the shuttle program was supposed to lead into a new moon program- which now has been cancelled. Short sighted on both their parts...
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I think you are giving Obama a bad rap on this... I think he is more committed to a continuing space program than any U.S president has been in years. The sad fact is that given current budget realities it is impossible to continue financing an extremely costly shuttle program while at the same time developing the next generation of space vehicles. <<“The bottom line is, nobody is more committed to manned spaceflight, to human exploration of space than I am,” he said in a speech to about 200 attendees of a White House-sponsored space conference here. But he was unwavering in insisting that NASA must change in sending people into space. “We’ve got to do it in a smart way,” Mr. Obama said, “and we can’t just keep on doing the same old things we’ve been doing and thinking that’s going to get us where we want to go.” Instead of earlier vague assurances by Charles F. Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator, and other administration officials that NASA would eventually venture beyond Earth orbit, Mr. Obama gave dates and destinations for astronauts. But the goals would be achieved long after he leaves office: a visit to an asteroid after 2025, reaching Mars by the mid-2030s.>> Source: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/science/space/16nasa.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04...asa.html</a> You have to remember that shuttle technology is essentially 30 years old, and has been prone to significant problems recently You also need to remember that there was a 9-year hiatus between the last Apollo mission and the first Shuttle mission, so I don't think you can say this delay will kill the space program.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I think it is up to us enthusiasts to show our passion and continue to support the space programme in whatever form that takes. Whenever someone talks of waste of time or money, we must point out the huge difference it has made. Whenever there is an opportunity to lobby or vote, we should do so. Whenever there is an opportunity to inspire a child about the potential of space travel, we must endeavour to do so. I must confess, this year, I have been researching more and more about the European Space agency, learning more about Soyuz, and engaging more in finding out about what the rest of the world is doing. Personally, I would be up for a United Nations Space Agency. Afterall, most observatory work is done remotely using the telescopes in South America and Asia remotely accessed in the US and Europe.It is already an international cooperative, as it should be. I am not worried about the US being the leader, but I do want the US to be a key contributor. Really, if we could pull the best resources together internationally, then think of the potential? That said, the one bit that really gets a lump in my throat in the American Adventure is when we hear Neil Armstrong, it always makes me well up.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 RT- I would agree with you on Obama until he backed off the future plans. AS I said, if there is the next program in the wings- so be it..no issue. But to turn so many highy skilled engineers and those with foresight loose without that-- only continues the brain drain in this country.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Really, if we could pull the best resources together internationally, then think of the potential? --- absolutely- the problem is we can't pull hardly anything together globally..and have little faith in that changing. The engineers will become mercenaries and the countries with the biggest $$ ( India ?) - will scoop them up
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I think the ISS and also the Mars missions have been pretty good examples that it can work.
Originally Posted By disney pete wish i had a strong telescope or could find my ggod binoculars as ISS went over our house on a clear night last week.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >> But to turn so many highy skilled engineers and those with foresight loose without that-- only continues the brain drain in this country.<< Wouldn't it be fitting if the Chinese hired them and we would be treated to watching the Chinese flag raised on the surface of Mars?
